Gary Figueroa

Gary Lee Figueroa (born September 28, 1956, in Phoenix, Arizona) is a former water polo player from the United States, who competed for the University of California Irvine and won the silver medal with Team USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Early life Figueroa was born September 28, 1956 in Phoenix, Arizona, where by age eight he competed in age group swimming in Mesa. After a family move shortly before his High School Freshman year, he attended Sunny Hills High School, in Fullerton, California where he competed in water polo from 1971-1974. At Sunny Hills, Figueroa swam and played water polo under Coach Hank Vellekamp, who would later work as an Assistant water polo Coach at UC Irvine during Figueroa's tenure with the team. As a Senior in 1974, Figueroa was an All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) honoree, and a High School All American. where in the three years from 1975-1977, he consecutively received All-American honors. He was ambidextrous and could shoot the ball with either hand easily.

Recognized for many years during his water polo career, he received All-American honors seven times from U.S. Water Polo including the years 1975-1977, 1980-81, 1983 and 1986. Known for his shooting accuracy, he was usually selected to make UCI's penalty shots. The teams from Yugoslavia, Italy, the Soviet Union, Hungary and Spain were the pre-Olympic favorites to medal in water polo. Responding to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the teams from Hungary and Russia did not attend in 1984. The U.S. and Yugoslavia won their first three matches, and met in the final game to determine who would take the gold and silver medals. Going into the third quarter of play, the U.S. team held a late 5-2 advantage over Yugoslavia, but were unable to make another goal, and Yugoslavia tied the score 5-5 with three unanswered goals, winning the gold on score differential. Yugoslavia took the gold, West Germany the Bronze and Spain placed fourth. and was a Salinas Valley Sports Hall of Fame inductee.

Remaining in the sport after ending his years as an elite competitor, he started coaching at Salinas High School and later managed the water polo team at California State University, Monterey Bay. He has also coached boy's water polo at the York School in Monterey, California.